Hinged jewelry clasp with means blocking disassembly



July 19, 1960 L. v. CATALDI HINGED JEWELRY CLASP WITH MEANS BLOCKING DISASSEMBLY Filed Juhe so, 1958 .rmimnmnnmms INVENTOR. Z 0111's fa/o l ATTORNEYS.

2,945,353 Patented July 1%,1960

Fice

THINGED JEWELRY CLASP WITH MEANS BLOCKINGDISASSEMBLY Louis V. Cataldi, 54 Imperial Ave., Cranston 9, RI. Filed June 30, 1958, Ser. No. 745,708

1 Claim. (CI. 63-14) The present invention relates to a jewelry clasp, more particularly to a type of clasp for an ear-ring, brooch and the like. i

A clasp of the type to which the present invention is concerned usually has a body portion which carries an ornament and a movable jaw pivotally mounted on the body portion which has a spring tongue slidably engaging a portion of the body for moving the jaw toward the ornament. The pivots of the clasp are carried at opposite edges of the jaw which is slotted at each side of the longitudial center thereof to form the spring tongue. This allows the outer portions of the jaw to be squeezed toward each other for inserting the pivots in position on the body. One disadvantage found in the above type of clasp is the frequent accidental disengagement of the jaw from the body portion.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of clasp having a body portion provided with means for blocking accidental disengagement of the jaw from the body of the clasp.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a clasp having a one-piece body in which portions thereof will be bent at a location to provide abutments so as to block movement of the marginal edge portions of the jaw toward each other.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a jewelry clasp embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an edge elevational view of the clasp;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 of the opposite side of the clasp;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a similar view and showing the movable jaw in open position;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 6-6 of Figure Q; and

Figure 7 is a plane view of a sheet metal stamping for fabricating the body portion of the clasp.

Referring to the drawing in more detail, 10 designates a jewelry clasp having a body portion 11 carrying an ornament 12 and a jaw 13 which is pivotally mounted on the body for swinging movement toward and away from the ornament. It will be seen the body has oppositely disposed cars 14 which are pierced as at 15 to provide bearing openings. A floor portion 16 extends between the ears 14 and the opposite side edges thereof are joined to the cars by curved bridge portions 17 which are offset from the plane of the floor in a direction opposite from the direction in which the ears project beyond the plane of the floor. The ears although in a plane at right angles to the plane of the floor extend from the connecting bridge portion at an acute angle to the general lengthwise extent of the floor in an overhanging relation rather I providing abutments 19 the edges of which extend on a curvature. The body is also provided with an ornament carrying branch 20 which is shown as extending at right angles to the floor portion 16. The branch 20, however, may be made to extend at any required angle relative to the floor portion 16 and may be curved or straight so as to adapt the same to receive a particular ornament to be secured thereon or the branch 20 may be ornamented and itself constitute the ornament.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be seen that the abutments 19 are positioned inwardly of the ears 14, and referring to Figures 4 and 5, it will be seen that the outer edges of the abutments extend upwardly to a plane which, if projected, would pass within the piercings or holes 15 in the ears 14.

The body 10 is preferably made of a sheet metal stamped in a form shown in Figure 7 which may be subjected to bending operations in the known manner so as to result in the body portion above described. The various portions of the stamping shown which are adapted to be bent into the parts of the body above described are indicated with similar numerals and the lines of bending are shown in broken lines.

The jaw 13 is of known construction and comprises a sheet metal stamping of a resilient material with opposite edges 25 converging toward the pivot end of the jaw. The jaw is slotted inwardly from said pivot end at opposite side of the central longitudinal center thereof as at 27 which forms side arms 28 and a centrally disposed spring tongue 29 which depends from the other end portion of the jaw. The side arms carry the pivots 30 at the edges 25 which are received in the openings 15 of the ears and the tongue 29 is adapted to engage the edge 18 to urge the jaw to move toward the ornament 12 in clamping relation therewith. The side arms 28 are normally resiliently movable toward each other to disengage the pivots 30 from the cars 14. The abutments 19, however, as seen in Figures 1 and 3, extend opposite to the inner edges 31 of arms 28 and sufiiciently close thereto to block movement of said arms 28 toward each other a distance suflicient to withdraw the pivots from the ears.

In fabricating the body 11, the cars 14 are initially depressed relative to the floor 16 so that the bridge portion 17 is partially formed into a quarter of a circle with the ears 14 extending in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the branch portion 20 while abutments 19 are formed at right angles to their original position. The jaw 13 is then placed in position relative to the body so that the abutments 19 extend into slots 27 and the pivots 30 are in alignment with piercings 15 and then the ears 14 are bent into final shape. The resulting structure is one which allows wide freedom of choice of the thickness of the jaw stock. Usually, it is necessary to choose a gauge of stock which will withstand side pressures in the plane of the pivoting axis so as to resist disengagement from the pivot holes. However, in the present instance all tendency for disengagement is prevented by abutments 19 which hold the pivot arms of the jaw in the holes at all positions of the jaw relative to the body portion.

I claim:

A sheet metal jewelry clasp having a body member comprising a floor, ears on opposite sides of the floor projecting in .planes at generally right angles to the plane of the floor in one direction, each ear being provided with a bearing opening adjacent the free end of the ear, bridge portions offset in the other direction from the plane of the floor connecting respective ears to the floor 2,945,863 3 with said ears extending' irqmsaid bridge portions at an acute angle to the length of the floor, a jaw member having one end bifurcated to form resilient side arms normally disposed outwardly of opposite edges of said floor and movable toward eachother andprovided,at their 5 ends with outwardly extendingtrunnio'ns 'injjsaid beaning: openings and. abutmentsbent, upin the direction that the, ears extendyfi om the floor from theofipositeed'gesof the 1,483,132 fioo adjacent thefree ends ofthe ears and v-ofasufiicient 0,583,988 extent to overlap said bearing -openings; sb as to. hevtlo' 10 2,788,-5'5-9'= cated in'the'path of movement of 'saidiresilie'nt side arms toward each otherto bloek inward. movement. thereof and thus prevent detachment of said members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Toelcke Feb. 12, 1924 Ballou et a1. .Jan.29,;1952 Bazznecrv Apr. 16, 1957 

